Nightfall: A Continuing Story in the Twilight Saga
by vkeithley
Summary: After the events of Breaking Dawn: A bloody war with the Volturi has been averted. The Cullen's live happily in safety from the vampire royalty, until an old grudge must be avenged. A new power rises in Volturi, determined that every Cullen must be destroyed. But will the Cullen's destroy themselves first? The Dawn is over; Night will fall. (All Characters; canon compliant)
1. Broken Bonds

_**Nightfall: A Continuing Story in the Twilight Saga**_

_**Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I am just borrowing them.**_

**A/N:** This story begins one month place after the confrontation in Forks, Washington at the end of Breaking Dawn. My goal is for the story to be canon compliant. But as I am venturing into new territory, I will take a few licenses. Nothing too wild, though. I also plan to make this novel length, at least 30 chapters, so I hope that you will all join me for the ride.

Also, for visualization purposes, I will be describing the characters as they appear in the films, as opposed to Stephanie Meyer's written descriptions. Usually, the two are in sync, but in a few characters, the descriptions differ greatly.

**Update: 12/07/12 I had to update this chapter and make it Chapter One, instead of the Prologue. Nothing has changed, otherwise.**

**Chapter One: Broken Bonds**

Jane's deep velvet-red eyes overlooked the Italian city of Volterra, home of the Volturi. The sun had just begun to sink below the horizon and a light drizzle had soaked the heavy dark cloak she wore. She had been standing on the balcony to her room for 18 hours, but she felt no fatigue, nor the cold wind that gusted heavily, making the edges of her cloak dance around her. A slight burn in her throat reminded her that she had not fed on human blood in more than two days, but the burn was only a minor annoyance. Her perfect face, heart-shaped and pale as milk—an innocent face of girl of perhaps 13 years—showed supreme unconcern, her features smooth and undisturbed. But her brother knew that she was seething underneath.

Alec watched Jane silently, not wanting to break her reverie. He knew her mind worked furiously, and he was loath to interrupt. But enough was enough. Although the twins had a form of communication that was nearly telepathic, Alec could not read his sister's mind. He had grown impatient waiting for her to confide in him. Alec was in awe of Jane, and though he would never admit it, slightly afraid of her.

"Sister, what do you want to do? The Cullens— "

"Dear brother," Jane interrupted smoothly, "my thoughts must be my own for the time being. I would never danger you unnecessarily. But the time will come when your loyalty must be to me and me alone.

She turned to face him, piercing him with a crimson glare.

"Can I trust you, brother?"

"It offends me, Sister, that you ask," Alec replied, hurt coloring the normally soothing tone of his voice. "My loyalty has always been, and will ever be, to you and you alone."

"Forgive me, my twin. The things I do, I do for us."

Alec smiled and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. He knew Jane as well as he knew himself. He could guess what her plans were, if not exactly when and how she would bring them about.

Jane placed a chaste kiss on his lips, and Alec was filled with an overwhelming love for his sister. He had loved her since their birth; she was the older, but he was the calmer one, the protector. He wasn't given to the rages and tantrums that she would throw, even as a human child. When the villagers came for them, calling them witches for the inexplicable and strange things that happened to those who crossed the twins or their family, Alec had tried to save her from the burning stake that had nearly ended their human lives more than 1000 years before. He had tried to get her to escape, sacrificing himself for her, but his beloved sister was caught, and thrown headfirst into the giant pyre. He could hear her screams of pain and furious rage.

His sister had been as furious when Aro allowed the Cullen coven escape with their lives a month ago. She hadn't understood why he had given up so easily. Whatever the little one, Alice, had shown Aro about the future had made him surrender their plans to destroy all the Cullens, with the exception of Alice herself, and Edward if he could be spared. Alec, personally, thought that Edward would fight to the death to save his mate and child, and his gift would be lost to Aro.

Jane was enraged at what she considered cowardice on Aro's part, though she hid her thoughts and emotions well. She had returned to Volterra in a blind fury, and spent two days ceaselessly searching the city for any young girl with a resemblance to the newborn Bella Cullen. One the second day of her search, Jane found an unlucky girl with a passing resemblance to Bella—and tortured her unmercilessly for days before ripping her throat out.

Her hate of the Cullen's was as boundless as the sea, and her hate of the newest Cullen, had driven Jane to a vicious recklessness that Alec had never seen before. She could be severely punished for hunting within the city. It was strictly forbidden by the Volturi. But Jane would not heed her brother's pleas. She needed to strike at the Cullen's in some way; torturing a surrogate for Bella cooled her fury minutely, but she still longed to kill the entire family. But she couldn't act against the Cullen's without Aro's permission. First, Aro would have to be—

Alec purposely blanked his thoughts. Jane taught him long ago how to hide his thoughts, but he wasn't as strong as she was. If Aro touched him…He focused on his gratitude to Aro. If not for Aro, their human lives would have ended on that burning stake more than 1000 years before. He arrived in time to save their lives, but not in time to save them from nearly burning to death. Still, once the burning pain had faded, from the stake, and from his vampire transformation, Alec was grateful for his glorious rebirth.

"Jane."

A tall figure loomed out of the shadows. Even with his vampire hearing, Alec was surprised at the absolute silence of the ancient vampire who stood before him.

"Marcus," Alec spoke deferentially, greeting his superior. It was odd to see him in this part of the castle, in Jane's private rooms.

Instead of replying to Alec's greeting, Marcus sighed deeply. It was an unneeded gesture—Marcus's vampire lungs did not need air—but Marcus always sighed. His complexion was ashen, almost grey, and his long dark hair laid lank against his head, as if too tired to move in the fierce wind that whipped through the balcony.

"Aro would like to see you, Jane. And you, also, Alec."

Fear wrapped tendrils around Alec's unbeating heart. He glanced fearfully at Jane. She looked unconcerned, as usual.

"Aro sent you to find us?" Alec strove to speak in an unaffected manner.

With another sigh, Marcus replied, "I volunteered." He paused for a long time. Just as Jane and Alec turned to leave, he spoke again. "I grow restless of late. Thoughts of Didyme haunt me."

Alec and Jane exchanged a glance. Didyme, Marcus's wife,—and Aro's sister—had been dead for three thousand years, and Marcus still pined. Since the Volturi had returned from the aborted war with Cullens, he had seemed more distant, more apathetic than before. Almost sad.

"I promised Aro that I would find his sister's killer. I promised Didyme that I would avenge her. But I never found the thief who stole her and her happiness away from me." Marcus stared into the night sky, eyes unfocused, at the shimmering blanket of stars above his head.

Jane lips upturned slightly. Watching his sister closely, Alec felt a sense of panic rising in his stomach. Catching his sister's eye, he shook his head ever so slightly, sending a silent, frantic message.

_No, Sister! Do not!_

Jane's look said, _Worry not, my dearest brother. I know what I am doing._

Marcus continued to stare blankly into the heavens, oblivious to the twin's silent debate.

"Something is not right," Marcus continued, almost to himself. "I sense something, but Chelsea's powers keep me prisoner within myself. I know not what is amiss."

Chelsea, a member of Aro's guard, had the gift to make the Volturi be loyal to each other, and to Aro. The lower ranking Volturi were unaware of her gift, were unaware that the loyalty they felt was forced upon them. But Marcus, whose gift was to sense relationships, could tell the difference between true bonds of love and loyalty, and falsely created ones.

However, recognizing that he was being manipulated, and being able to stop the manipulation were two entirely different things. Marcus could not break away from his emotional captor—Aro—nor did he have the energy to want to. Since his wife had been killed, Marcus was completely apathetic to most of what happened around him, easily giving in to Aro's desires.

Marcus continued to speak, his low voice droning sadly. "My beautiful bride…Such love we shared, such happiness. We planned to leave the Volturi, to spend centuries reveling in each other."

A slight smile played around his mouth. "Young Bella and Edward Cullen share the deepest love I've witnessed since my own Didyme. It has only grown stronger since they were last in Volterra. Some bonds grow stronger and stronger with time."

Shifting his eyes from the night sky, he focused for the first time on Jane.

"Some bonds weaken. Some bonds break."

Fear leaped into Alec's eyes. _He knows, sister. He knows we plot._

"This is a natural occurrence; bonds of loyalty often weaken over time," Marcus continued. "Except…with our dear Chelsea's gift, the Volturi bonds should not weaken. Unless—"

Jane spoke for the first time.

"—Unless strong emotion counters those bonds." Alec noted that Jane had made her usually expressionless face appear saddened.

"My loyalty to A…to the Volturi has been unwavering for more than twelve centuries. And…" Jane paused for effect… "I thought my loyalty would be rewarded with loyalty in return. But, I fear I am meant to be destroyed.

Marcus eyes narrowed slightly. "You and your brother are the Volturi's strongest soldiers. Why would you think this?"

Alec noted that both Jane and Marcus purposely refrained from saying Aro's name. But Aro was the Volturi. Marcus and Cauis shared leadership with Aro, but Aro was the true seat of power.

"At first, I could not believe it. I refused. But the Cullen's mindreader told me that Ar...that I was feared by the Volturi leadership, that I wouldn't be allowed to live, that others were being cultivated to take my place—those with gifts in Carlisle's group, as well as the young gifted Egyptian vampire, Benjamin."

"That would never happen. If we lost you, we would also lose Alec."

"Not if my…ending…were attributed to an enemy. He," Jane said, referring to Aro by pronoun, "has done this before. He has rid himself of one precious to him to keep another more crucial to his plans."

Marcus's eyebrow rose in curiosity—the first curiousness he'd felt in centuries.

Jane whispered three words in reply to Marcus' unspoken question.

"His own sister."

Alec closed his eyes and waited for Marcus to tear his sister's head from her shoulders for daring to accuse Aro of such a heinous crime. Marcus was more than 2000 years older than the twins. Even in his current apathetic state, he could still kill the powerful twins with hardly any effort. There was nothing Alec could do to save her. His mind flashed to his last human memory, the writhing screaming charred body of his sister burning, while he burned himself, doing everything he could to ignore the pain of his cooking flesh. He couldn't save her then, and he couldn't save her now…

Alec realized that no screams, no sound of screeching, grinding metal—the sound of a vampire being torn apart—came to his ears.

He opened his eyes to see Jane and Marcus staring at one another. Jane appeared calm, but he could tell she was afraid. Marcus appeared thoughtful. The silence stretched out for long minutes.

Finally Marcus spoke. "Why do you say these things?"

"I only want to live."

"You lie," Marcus said. Alec flinched and Jane closed her eyes. Alec could feel his sister re-evaluating.

Marcus had a secondary gift. In sensing relationships and loyalty, he could sense when people lied. But assessing the bonds between himself and another, he could sense when their words were not complete truth.

"I do not…" Jane began, but when Marcus lifted an eyebrow in warning, she amended, "perhaps tell the whole truth."

Alec watched her hesitate, feeling her way to the most truthful statements she could make. "I want to live without fearing replacement by Alice and Bella Cullen. I am…jealous that my centuries of loyalty could be overlooked by Aro's shiny new toys. And," she spat, "I find it disgusting that a brother would sacrifice his own sister for his own ambition." Here she directed her glance to Alec.

"My brother would protect me with his own life, as would I, him. No one could come between us, not even the most selfish of our own desires."

Jane fell silent, her eyes pulled back to Marcus' face.

Marcus watched her, unspeaking, for another long moment. Finally he asked, "How do you know these things?"

Alec had wondered this himself. Obviously she'd kept this explosive secret to herself for some time. How had she discovered it?

Jane smiled, confidence shining through her eyes. "Aro told me himself."

Thousands of miles away, across an ocean, a group of vampires—and a few werewolves—gathered in a house made of glass. They laughed and touched, kissed, joked, teased, and mostly watched a beautiful child play. The child's mother and father held hands and kissed, while a large Native American boy threw the beautiful child high into the air, laughing when the girl giggled and shrieked and called, "Higher! Higher!"

A beautiful blond man, who had an air of serenity around him, held a beautiful woman, who fondly gazed at all of her precious children—the young parents, a beautiful blonde girl sitting on the lap of an enormous curly headed boy, a dark-headed pixie of a girl riding piggyback on a young man with long locks of wavy dark blonde hair—even a dimpled face young werewolf and his sister, a beautiful, but sullen-faced she-wolf, who couldn't help but smile at the laughing child when she thought no one was looking.

They were a family—bonded by love.

They would find out, all too soon, that some bonds do weaken. And some bonds break.

**_Thank you so much for Reading! Please review! Reviews are love! Reviews say "Keep writing." _**


	2. A Calm Moment before the Storm

_**Nightfall: A Continuing Story in the Twilight Saga**_

_**Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just invited them over to play at my house.**_

**A/N:** I plan for a lot of angst for the Cullen's—a lot of conflict from outside forces that push the Cullen's in different directions, as well as a lot of internal conflict. Life isn't perfect and no one can live a dream forever; they must eventually wake. I also want to introduce some weaknesses to Stephenie Meyer's vampires. Other than werewolves, the vampires have no weaknesses—and that is an oversight, I feel, on my beloved Stephenie Meyer's part. (I forgive her, of course.)

* * *

**Chapter Two: A Calm Moment Before the Storm**

As the sun, a rare sight in Forks, Washington, began its descent into the horizon, the Cullen family home was peaceful. Alice and Jasper were traveling, and Carlisle had taken Esme to her island for some much needed couples' time, so the house was quieter than usual. Bella could hear sounds coming from the living room, where Emmett alternated between watching ESPN and the news on television, while Rosalie flipped through fashion magazines beside him on the couch.

"…_a massive outbreak of patients from a low-security mental facility in New York City. The patients are suffering from a variety of disorders, including compulsive gambling, pyromania, and delusional thoughts….Manning's first Super Bowl ring after nine years as starting Quarterback…appears to be a massive landslide decimating the International Conference on Parapsychology in Utrecht in the Netherlands…carrying 37 Olympic athletes crashed over the Rocky mountains. Authorities so far are unable to recover any bodies… "_

A few feet away, Bella sat at the dining table with a stack of college applications, but she was preoccupied with watching her 5 month old daughter, Renesmee, play chess with her father. Renesmee, a fairly good chess player, was losing spectacularly to Edward. Bella knew that Edward wasn't reading Renesmee's mind, but the parents both knew what moves their little girl would make, even without the benefit of mind reading.

"She's all attack, isn't she?" Emmett said, after strolling over and watching the match for a few moments. He watched as Renesmee sacrificed her bishop to capture a pawn, and her Queen to capture a knight. "Forget logic. Just kick some butt."

Edward captured Renesmee's king with a regretful "Checkmate." When she stuck her lower lip out in a pout, Emmett leaned over to pat her curls. "That's okay, Nessie. You attack just like your Uncle Emmett."

Renesmee favored her huge uncle with a smile. She reached up to touch his face, showing him her memories from the family football game the week before. Bella, her mother, and still a newborn, and with newborn strength, had tackled Emmett over and over so much, that even Rosalie, Emmett's beloved wife, had to ask if her brawny mate actually liked the taste of mud.

Edward barked a laugh at the images Renesmee showed Emmett. "She is showing him how you decimated him on the football field," Edward said to Bella, stroking his wife's cheek fondly.

"Mommy attacks," Renesmee said, her voice tinkling like silver bells. Bella laughed, simultaneously proud that she was a strong role model for her daughter, and embarrassed that she had taken so much delight in pummeling Emmett into the ground.

"Oh, you think that's funny, little bit," Emmett growled playfully, grabbing Renesmee into his arms and throwing her high into the air, one of her favorite pastimes. She made Jacob and Emmett toss her hundreds of times. Her laughter floated through the house.

"Emmett, don't break my daughter," Bella ordered her mountainous brother in law, although she had no fear that Emmett would hurt his niece, purposely or accidentally. As a hybrid, Renesmee wasn't as hard or strong as a full vampire, but she was certainly durable. She enjoyed tossing herself down hills and mountains, regardless of rocks, stumps, trees, or boulders. Sometimes, she would come away scratched, or very infrequently, bruised, but within minutes her body would repair itself. Thus far, her bones seemed unbreakable, and her skin, though soft to the touch, was as impenetrable as granite.

Rosalie piped up from the living room, from behind a mountain of current fashion catalogues. "Emmett, put her down. Renesmee and I have plans to shop online this evening."

Like her aunts Rosalie and Alice—or perhaps because of them—Renesmee had grown to love clothes. "Whee!" Renesmee squealed, and when Emmett placed her on the floor, she ran over and threw herself into Rosalie's arms.

"When Carlisle and Esme get back from their trip, we'll put on a fashion show for them, what do you think?" Rosalie asked the little girl.

"When will Grandpa Carlisle and Memee get back?" Renesmee asked. Although she preferred to communicate by touch, the 5 month old commanded a very large vocabulary. She had a vast intellect, but much of it, Edward and Bella had discovered was instinctive. In many ways—especially emotionally—she was a very normal, even average child.

In a way, Bella was pleased that her intelligent daughter preferred not to talk aloud. Although less than half a year old, Renesmee was nearly the size of a three year old. Most 2-3 year olds didn't say, "I prefer blood to quench my thirst, Mommy, but the crab tortellini you ordered for me was delicious."

Bella blamed Edward. With his turn of the century way of speaking, and insistence on using only the most proper grammar, diction, Renesmee couldn't help but speak like a 1930s schoolmarm. Luckily Emmett and Jacob had taught her a few slang phrases; though Bella had to firmly _request_ that Emmett, not to use _certain _words around her small daughter.

"Grandpa Carlisle and Memee will be back in two more weeks, dearest one," Rosalie said, hugging the little girl to her. "It will be no time at all, you'll see. But in the meanwhile, we have time to shop until we drop."

"Shop until we drop!" Renesmee crowed, giggling loudly.

"Rose, you are teaching my daughter such bad habits," Bella couldn't help but smile.

"Well, if Alice and I don't give her a fashion education, who will?" Rosalie smirked. To her darling niece, she said, "When Aunty Alice gets backs, she will be so jealous when she sees our matching outfits. We'll get her one, as well, but we won't tell her at first." Of course, Alice would probably see Rose's decision to buy the outfit, but she wouldn't let on. The whole family lived to coddle, tease, and spoil Renesmee.

Alice and Jasper, and Carlisle and Esme, had gone on extended Valentine's Day trips. After the near battle with the Volturi, Alice revealed the vision that she had shared with Aro on the battlefield, the vision in which Carlisle and Jasper had died. Esme had sobbed tearlessly for days at the thought of losing Carlisle. Finally, Carlisle packed a few bags, and they flew to Isle Esme, a small island gifted to Esme from Carlisle off the coast of Rio de Janeiro—where Bella and Edward had spent their honeymoon—to be alone for a few weeks.

Alice and Jasper also left to spend some time alone. They didn't have a plan or a destination in mind. They were just wandering for a while, enjoying nature and each other as they had when they first met. Alice would call occasionally, if there was a vision she thought they should know about. Otherwise, the couple was happily "rediscovering" themselves.

Rosalie couldn't tear herself away from Renesmee to leave Forks for any length of time; but Emmett was so in love with Rosalie, he didn't care where they reconnected—their bedroom, the middle of an empty field, the garage, the backseat of Edward's car.

Bella might have felt a twinge of jealousy at all the time Renesmee spent with Rosalie, but she also felt an abundance of sympathy for Rosalie. Rosalie had told Bella once how much she had wanted a child. It was how Bella had known that Rosalie would help protect Bella's unborn baby when everyone, including Edward, wanted to kill it.

Gazing at her beautiful blonde sister-in-law with fondness, Bella said, "I suppose you're right. If it were left to me, the poor girl would be in jeans and t-shirts constantly."

Rosalie grinned, and lightly pinched Renesmee's nose. "See, Mommy agrees with me."

Within minutes, Rosalie and Renesmee had an array of clothing pictures from magazines arranged on a large corkboard. Like so many puzzle pieces, they mixed and matched tops and bottoms, accessories and shoes, until Bella shook her head in fond exasperation.

"Now that our child is occupied, how about some time to ourselves? It _is_ Valentine's Day." Edward whispered to Bella. Bella smiled warmly at her beautiful husband. His bronze hair glinted as a single ray of sunshine pierced through the clouds and through the windows. His face, his smile, delighted her as much now as always.

"What if Rosalie has something to do later?" Bella protested, half-heartedly.

"Go, go, go!" called Rosalie from the living room. "Renesmee can stay with us for the night. Emmett and will have plenty of time to…" Rosalie cast a cautious eye down at Renesmee.

"…work on your engine." Emmett supplied helpfully.

"Yes, sweetheart. You definitely need to get under my hood," Rosalie purred, grinning. Bella swore she could see steam coming from Rosalie's eyes. "In any case, that mutt will be back soon, and he'll want to monopolize our girl."

Jacob had left early that morning to handle some LaPush werewolf business. Emmett was nearly finished building the werewolves—Seth, Leah, and Jacob—their own cottage on the Cullen land, not too far from the main house. Jacob couldn't stand being so far away from Renesmee out at the LaPush reservation, and his pack, Leah and Seth, wouldn't leave him. Seth didn't mind at all—but he planned only to stay in the house on the weekends. He still went to school on the reservation.

Leah had only begrudgingly decided to live there. She had a tolerable relationship with Esme, mainly because Esme mothered everyone, and really seemed to like Leah, despite Leah's constant bad attitude. Oddly, Leah and Emmett seemed to have the strongest connection. They had some weird understanding with each other and were often found wrestling—Leah in wolf form—or watching football on television. Edward joked that it was because they were both so hard to get along with. Rosalie was jealous for a half a second, until she realized that Leah was like a little sister—a mean, sullen, tomboy little sister—to Emmett. Leah mostly avoided the rest of the vampires, including Bella, whom she still seemed to despise.

"Okay, then, we'll go. Thanks, Rosalie, Emmett. Renesmee, I'll see you in the morning," Bella called to her daughter.

"Okay, Mommy. Bye, Daddy!" Renesmee didn't even look away from the fashion collage she and her aunt were building.

"Well," Edward mocked, "we, apparently, are superfluous." Bella squashed another small twinge of jealousy.

Hand and hand, Edward and Bella walked at human speed to their cottage. A few snow drifts still coated the ground, but a few tufts of green shot up through the earth here and there, and Bella could feel the warmth in the air—in a few weeks, spring would take over and leaves would fill the trees and the colors would change from brown, white, and grey, to green, green, and more green.

At the door of their fairy tale cottage, Edward stopped. "Happy Valentine's Day," he whispered, handing Bella a velvet box. Inside the box were the most beautiful pair of diamond earrings Bella had ever seen.

"When did you do this, Edward?" Bella wasn't normally much of a jewelry person, but she loved earrings.

"Last week, when we took Renesmee the Woodland park zoo in Seattle. Remember, I went to the concession stand for cup of hot chocolate for Renesmee. The line wasn't as long as I said." Edward's crooked smile made Bella's stomach do flip flops.

"Well, Mr. Cullen, come in and let me thank you properly."

As they lay on their bed, passion building to explosive heights, Bella thought, 'I will never tire of this." Edward was her soul mate and nothing on the earth would come between them.

A long while later, Bella spoke. "Our first Valentine's day as a married couple." She buttoned the top to her cotton pajamas. She still couldn't bring herself to wear the silky, sexy things that Alice had brought for her.

"Our first Valentine's day ever. When you first moved to Forks, it was January and I was still trying to avoid you that February. And last February…" Edward went silent.

Bella remembered. He had run away from her, and she was trying in vain to pick up the pieces of her life. She had gone to a movie with Mike Newton and Jacob on Valentine's Day last year. It was hard to believe that so much had changed in a year.

"We should watch "Sleepless in Seattle," Bella said firmly. "Like with us, it ends well."

Edward laughed and reached for the remote. The television flickered to life on a news station.

"…_The worst landslide in the history of Nepal. The bus held 15 American tourists as well as 44 Nepalese citizens, all attendees of a conference on Spiritualism and the Mind. The conference was commended by the Dalai Lama and had been praised to teaching enlightenment and how to strengthen the powers of the mind. Only half the bodies were recovered…"_

Edward put the television on the AV channel and popped in the DVD.

"I love snuggling with you. Especially now that you are warm," Bella murmured. She pulled the blanket up to her chest and snuggled deep into the bed. She wasn't cold, but it was a comforting, human gesture that she still enjoyed.

Edward climbed into bed beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"You have seen this movie at least 15 times. Why—"

"Stop!" Bella snapped. "What was that?" She had heard something, something that made her heart—an unfeeling lump of tissue—seemed to freeze with in her.

"I don't hear…" Edward began.

Suddenly they both heard it. Their vampire ears heard a small cough. Then another. Then a series of coughs, hard, choking coughs.

"Renesmee!"

Bella ran at full speed, a grey blur, to the main house, Edward right on her heels. She sped into the living room, where a manic Rosalie held her daughter, who was spitting up blood, and gasping, deep wretched inhalations for air.

"What happened?" Bella screamed. Her daughter, her invincible daughter, who cannonballed down mountains, was ashen gray, covered in blood, and writhing helplessly.

"I don't know! She just started coughing, then vomiting blood! Oh Edward, what's happening!" Rosalie yelled, fully panicked.

"Renesmee!" Bella took her daughter in her arms and looked into her face. The little girl, whose skin normally was nearly as hot as Jacob's, felt cold to the touch.

"Edward, what's wrong with her? What do we do?!"

Edward was frozen.

Suddenly Rosalie vaulted over and strong-arm slapped Edward across the face. "Wake up, Edward! Please do something!" Emmett grabbed Rosalie by the arms and held her.

"Oh my god, Edward!" Bella shrieked. "She's not breathing! Her heart isn't beating!"

Edward blurred into motion.

Placing his daughter on the floor, he began to gently press on her chest. If he wasn't careful, he could kill her. As strong as her body was, he was much stronger. Bella could see Edward struggling to control his panic, and she resolved to do the same. Panicking wouldn't help her baby.

"Rose, call Carlisle," Edward shouted. Just then Rosalie's cell phone rang. She grabbed it out of her purse and crushed it to pieces.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Rosalie wailed.

Immediately Emmett's phone began ringing. "Just stay calm, Rosie," Emmett said. "I'll answer it."

Suddenly Bella could hear the howls of wolves in the distance.

"Jacob's coming!" Edward said, still pumping on his daughter chest. "He senses that she's in danger."

He continued to pump, and then he leaned over to give Renesmee two quick breaths, holding her nose, breathing in her mouth. Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe.

"It's not working!" Bella cried. "Oh, please, god, help her!"

Edward stopped to listen to her heart. Bella listened, straining and praying for the rapid little hummingbird sound within her daughter's chest. With their vampire ears, they could only hear silence.

Suddenly, a mournful howl filled the air. It was filled with the deepest sadness Bella had ever heard.

"No," Bella whispered. "No!"

Two more howls ripped through the air.

Bella dropped to the floor, shoving Edward across the room, where he crashed into a bookshelf, knocking down books and shattering glass figurines. Bella continued the CPR. Breath, pump, breath, pump.

"Bella."

Edward's voice seemed to come at her from very far away. She ignored it. Renesmee needed her. Renesmee needed her to keep breathing.

"Bella. Stop." Edward's voice was soft, calm.

"You shut up, Edward! Shut up!" Rosalie shrieked, and lunged at Edward, clawing. Emmett dropped the cell phone that he was furiously talking into, and leaped over the white leather couch and grabbed Rosalie before she could tear Edward apart.

"Bella, don't stop!" Rosalie wailed, trying to free herself from Emmett's grasp. "Don't you stop, Bella!"

Bella could barely hear them. She just knew she needed to pump, and breathe, and pump and breathe.

"Come on, baby," she crooned. "We will go to the zoo again with Grandpa Charlie and Sue." Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe.

"Jacob is going to take you to the Reservation to play with Claire. Remember her? You like her." Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe.

"Grandpa said he would take you fishing now that you are a big girl." Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe.

"You have to be my food tester, if I am going to go to cooking school to be a good chef." Pump. Breathe. Pump. Breathe.

Gentle hands took hers and held them tight. Edward's eyes found hers.

"Bella, stop. She's gone."

Vampire wails and wolvish howls filled the air.

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**Thank you for Reading! Please Review! Reviews = Love! Reviews say to the author, "Keep writing. And Make it better next time!" **

****Also, I'm searching for a Beta reader for this story, so if you are a beta reader, with strong grammatical skills, a flair for plot and creativity, a strong writing style, and an extensive love and knowledge of Twilight, and are interested in Beta-ing for me, please P.M. me. I've never had a Beta before, so experience would be nice.**


	3. Gone

_**Nightfall: A Continuing Story in the Twilight Saga**_

_**Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I spoke to her and she said it was okay if I messed around with them. Well, that happened in my dream. She and J.K. Rowling and I were sister-wives, having a spot of tea in jolly old England.**_

**A/N:** Okay, so I hope you are still with me after killing Renesmee off. Don't worry. There's a method to my madness. As I said before, life isn't a dream. Sometimes you do through hardships. And I don't mean, being burned alive for three days and then life is perfect hardship. I mean, seriously, in real life people die, hearts break, bridges get burned, and you gotta go on living anyway. So yeah, some people are going to die. But some people are going to live. Really live.

**Chapter 3: Gone**

Bella could see Edward's lips moving, but she couldn't hear the words. Edward knelt on the floor in front of her—his hands gripping her shoulders—but his image swam in and out of her vision. It seemed that his lips were moving in slow motion. Bella tried to read his lips, but a high-pitched sound, like a siren, assaulted her ears, distracting her.

" 'Ella, Eeeees Ahhhhp Eeeeeemmieeeee!"

Bella could hear other things perfectly. In another part of the room, she heard Emmett's voice, saying "Please hurry! Bella's hysterical."

Was she hysterical? She glanced down at the small body beside her on the floor.

_I should really wipe the blood off of Renesmee's face_, Bella thought.

More high-pitched sirens. Glass shattering.

She heard Alice's voice, from over the phone, "We are all coming home. I will be there in a few hours. Carlisle and Esme are meeting the jet right now. They will be home as fast as possible. Jasper will…"

Edward's face swam into view again, lips moving silently. She tried to focus on the words.

"Eees dop Reemie!"

"Alice, why didn't you see?" Rosalie's voice, loud, demanding.

Alice's voice again, clear even through the staticky reception of the phone. "I couldn't see Renesmee's future, anymore than I can see Jacob's. I didn't know, Rose! Until I saw you and Emmett preparing for a funeral, I didn't know."

The high-pitched noises were beginning to bother her. Bella wondered where the sounds—shrieks?—where coming from.

She wanted to ask Edward, but she couldn't think of the words. She focused harder on his face.

"Bella, pees dop eeming!" Bella reached out shaking fingers to caress Edward's lips. His words became clearer. "Bella, baby, please stop screaming."

Edward placed his arms around Bella's shoulders and pulled her head to his chest. But Bella didn't want to be comforted. Pushing away from Edward, she pressed the heels of her hand into her eyes. There was a burn in her eyes, almost like the burning in her throat when she was thirsty. Taking her hands away from her face, she seemed confused to find her hands dry. Her face and her eyes were completely dry.

"Why can't I cry?" Bella's eyes accused Edward. "Why, Edward? I want to cry!"

She searched the faces of Emmett and Rosalie, demanding answers. Rosalie looked destroyed, eyes glued on the lifeless little body on the floor.

"We don't cry, Bella," Rosalie whispered. "Just another bit of awfulness in our wretched existence. We can't even mourn properly for our dead."

With a roar, Bella leaped up and ran out of the house, ripping the front door off of its hinges. She prowled frantically around the porch, her mind whirling, unable to decide where to go, or what to do.

Two wolves standing in the yard raised their heads, watching her warily. The wolves—Seth and Leah—stood on either side of a human form that writhed on the ground, sobbing deeply. Both wolves whimpered piteously as Jacob, naked in the grass, gnashed his teeth and wailed in anguish. His human cries were as painfully sad as his wolf howls. Jacob!

Bella realized at that moment what Renesmee's death meant to Jacob. Renesmee was his imprint—his future mate. His gravity. His universe. His reason for existing.

_She was my reason for existing, too, _Bella thought.

Bella couldn't take it. She fled, tearing savagely through the woods, without regard for obstacles. Howling, she slammed into trees, wanting to rip and destroy. Her daughter was dead! She ran faster, not caring as the tree limbs ripped and tore at her fragile clothing, finally leaving her naked, a white blur of skin.

She ran and ran, through mile and miles of forest for hours, heedless of direction, mindlessly, until her anger abated and despair crashed down upon her. She didn't feel the physical cold, but her teeth chattered as she collapsed into a snowdrift, somewhere near the British Columbian—Alaskan border. She wasn't physically tired—she was mentally exhausted. For the first time in her newborn vampire life, Bella wanted to sleep. To be unconscious. To have some respite from the knowledge she couldn't bear to face.

Her vampire life was now a hell from which she couldn't escape.

Her mind—a cavern in comparison to her limited human brain—raced with thoughts she wanted to avoid. Images flashed in her head, all of her loved ones. Renesmee. Esme. Renee.

Renee! And Charlie!

They were still human! And fragile! What if she lost them, too? How would she live without them? How was she going to live without her precious, precious child? How could any parent live without their child?

As a human, she had never thought of what it would be like to live with the death of a loved one. She hadn't considered it, hadn't cared. "I was so stupid, so selfish," Bella moaned.

Was how she was feeling now—burning anguish, frozen despair—how Renee and Charlie would have felt if they had been told she was dead? She knew the answer. As a stupid human girl, she had been so in love with Edward, she hadn't cared. She hadn't cared about them losing her, or her losing them. She just wanted to be with Edward.

Now she was being punished. She deserved punishment.

Bella groaned aloud, rolling in snow, her feelings overwhelmed her. Her vampire senses made everything to sharp, to clear, too vibrant. When Edward left her last year, she went numb for six months, barely feeling anything. Now she felt everything; sharp and defined; there would be no escape this time.

Her fingers clawed at the frozen ground, digging up large chunks. Her moans became high-pitched shrieks, and she punched at the ground until she was in a hole six feet deep, covered in snow, dirt, and pieces of pulverized rock. Bella begged for death, for hell fires to obliterate her, for anything to eradicate her pain and despair.

A scent on the air invaded her desolation. Human. Out here in the middle of nowhere, a human. The acrid smell of gunpowder struck her nose. A hunter. Instantly, she was on her feet, running so swiftly that her feet left no prints in the snow.

Within moments, the human was before her. She slowed to a stop directly in front of him. He'd been tracking a deer, rifle at his shoulder, sights set. When Bella appeared before him, like a ghost out of the falling snow, his eyes widened in fear, in awe, and the hunter involuntarily squeezed the trigger. The bullet bounced off of her skin and fell harmlessly into the snow.

His gun dropped from his fingers.

She could see herself reflected in his eyes. She was beautiful, naked, wild. Her dark hair nearly to her waist, dark against her snow white skin.

"Are—Are you okay?" The human man spoke hesitantly, taking one step towards her. "Are you real?" he whispered.

Bella leaped. Within a fraction of a second, his warm, delicious blood poured down her throat. It was the sweetest, richest taste in the world. Animal blood was offal compared with the life she tasted in the human's blood. All of Bella's despairing thoughts, all of her misery, receded completely while she gorged herself on the poor man's blood. Within moments, the man lay lifeless at her feet, drained.

Bella reveled in _not_ thinking. Not feeling. Just existing on the blood. Living through the blood.

A snap of a branch came to her ears, then wind shifted and Bella smelled him.

She turned to see Edward, watching her, golden eyes expressionless. "Bella," Edward spoke hoarsely, "What have you done?"

Bella looked at the dead man lying at her feet and a sick horror washed over her. All of the pain she'd pushed back flooded into her, along with guilt and shame.

"Oh, god, Edward! I don't know. I killed him! I wasn't thinking…I just wanted to not think, not remember. Oh, Edward, she's gone. Renesmee's gone!"

Edward opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again.

"What?" Bella yelled. "What do you want to say to me?"

Edward merely sighed. "Your eyes are red now."

He moved to take Bella into his arms, but she stepped out of his embrace. Edward's face, soft with pity and love, hardened with the pain of her rejection.

Bella could see the hurt on his face, but she couldn't bear to be held or comforted. "I can't take it! I can't cry; I just feel…pain…It hurts so badly, Edward! Why didn't you tell me? It hurts so bad!"

"I didn't know," Edward spoke softly. "I've never lost someone since I was a vampire."

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Lucky for you."

Edward's eyes widened in shock at her tone.

Bella wanted to apologize, but she couldn't make the words come. Instead she said, "We should go back. I need to be with her."

Without another word, Bella turned and fled back the way she'd come, Edward at her heels. The faint streaks of light began to brighten the sky, but the clouds would keep the sun away. Without realizing, Bella had run nearly to Juneau. Luckily, there were hundreds and hundred of miles of forest and nothing much else between them and Forks.

Alice met Bella and Edward in the front yard near the trees after their long run back. Alice held a sweater and jeans in her hands. "I saw that you needed these," she told Bella, offering them to her.

Alice gasped. "Your eyes," she exclaimed.

"What? You didn't see that in your visions either." Bella yanked the clothing from Alice's hands and quickly pulled them on. She started for the steps of the porch, and heard Edward whisper, "Sorry, Alice."

Alice nodded. "Carlisle and Esme just arrived," she said. "He is testing the blood Renesmee vomited for clues as to why…" Her voice trailed away.

"Where is she?" Edward asked.

"Upstairs in your old room. Rosalie and I cleaned her and dressed her in her favorite dress; the pink one with the flowers sewn into it. Carlisle thinks we should do the burial—"

"No!" Bella shrieked, turning to Edward. "Not yet! No! I can't bury her yet!" Bella pleaded. "Not yet!"

Up in Edward's room, Bella lay next to Renesmee's body. She had lain there all day without moving or blinking, simply gazing at the unmoving child. Alice had woven flowers in to her hair. Bella thought that she looked like an angel. Except for the absence of breathing and heartbeat, her little girl looked very much alive. Even her skin was warm. Bella stroked the little girl's hair. Beautiful bronze curls—Edward's color, Charlie's curls.

How was she going to tell Charlie? He loved Renesmee, adored her as they all did. Even more. Charlie was able to do things with Renesmee that he was not able to do with Bella when she small; either because Bella visited so infrequently after Renee and Charlie divorced, or because Bella was just a solitary child who didn't seem to need overt affection. As Charlie was not prone to large displays of physical affection, it seemed to work out for the best.

But Renesmee seemed to inspire displays of affection from everyone, including her gruff grandpa. Charlie would hold her for hours, play with her chocolate curls, and hug and kiss her constantly. Renesmee had made him…soft. Bella smiled softly.

Her smile disappeared abruptly as another thought came to her. Renee would never get to meet her granddaughter. Renee would never even _know_ that she _had_ a granddaughter. All of Bella's decisions in becoming a vampire suddenly seemed selfish, childish.

She remembered telling Rosalie, so confidently, "I'll never want any more than I want Edward." Bella knew now that she'd been horribly wrong. Rosalie had insisted that Bella was wrong; that she'd want blood more than Edward. But Rosalie had been wrong, too. At this moment, Bella wanted her daughter to be alive more than anything she'd ever wanted in life.

"Bella."

Bella had heard Edward's footsteps approaching, before he spoke. But she didn't move.

"Rosalie wants to sit with Renesmee for a while. But she doesn't want to disturb you. Would that be okay?"

Bella didn't speak. She wrapped a curl of Renesmee's hair around her finger and released it, smiling when it unraveled, bouncing back into its curl.

"Bella, please speak to me," Edward said. "Let me know what you are thinking."

The blush in her daughter's cheeks was so beautiful, Bella thought. She looked as though she'd been chiseled and painted by the finest artist's hand.

Edward sighed. "I know you are hurting. I am too."

Suddenly Bella hissed.

"Are you, Edward! Are you, really?" Bella leaped from the bed in one smooth motion to confront Edward. "Because you seemed just fine to me."

"Bella!" Edward had never yelled at her before. Now he did. "When you hurt, I hurt!"

"That's exactly it, Edward! You don't hurt for yourself! You just hurt for _me_! Because _I'm_ hurting. Did you even love her? Outside of me? Outside of what she meant to me?"

Edward's eyes widened in shock.

"I don't think you did!" Bella spat out the words, her angry tone at odds with the chime-like quality of her voice. "You didn't love her like I did! You don't care that she's dead!"

The sound of a boulder exploding filled the room. The strength of the slap threw Bella across the room. Lifting her head, she found Esme standing over her, glaring with pity, anger, and embarrassment. Bella's cheek stung viciously from the force of the slap Esme had given her. But the slap was only the beginning.

"Don't you ever speak like that to him again, Bella! You are being cruel and spiteful, and Edward doesn't deserve it! You don't get to keep all of your sorrow to yourself. And you don't get to pour out your anger onto your husband, onto your family, who loves you, who is suffering with you."

Esme knelt beside Bella, who scooted backwards away from her until the bedroom wall was at her back and she could go no further. "I know you are hurting. You know I understand the loss of a child." Esme spoke softly now, her voice immeasurably sad. "I couldn't bear it, myself. I threw myself from a cliff to escape it."

"Then you know what I am feeling!" Bella wailed.

Edward had told Bella how Esme had jumped off of a cliff after losing her baby when she was a human. That was how Carlisle had found and turned her. His love made her whole, and Edward, Rosalie, Emmitt, Alice, Jasper, and even Bella had become her children. But part of her—even though her human memories were very dim and almost forgotten—still missed her lost human baby.

"Of course I do. And you are not wrong for feeling it. But take comfort in your family, in Edward. If I had had Carlisle back then, I know I could have gotten through it without resorting to something so desperate. Don't shut Edward out."

Esme enfolded Bella in her arms and held her tightly, as Bella continued to wail tearlessly. She shushed her as she would have done a child.

"We all miss her, sweetheart. We all do. But we are a family, and we'll get through this. You'll come through it, Bella. I promise."

"Bella, Edward, everyone come downstairs, please, now." Carlisle's voice was urgent.

Esme stood immediately. Edward held his hand out to Bella. Bella placed her hand in his, her eyes asked for his forgiveness. They walked downstairs, hand in hand, followed by Esme. But for once, Bella was glad that Edward couldn't read her thoughts. She knew it was unfair, but she couldn't help but think that Edward had tried to commit suicide by Volturi when he thought Bella was dead.

_His own daughter has died right before his face, and he is only concerned about me_, Bella thought.

Immediately, Bella was ashamed of her thoughts. It was unfair to Edward, and, as Esme said, cruel. Edward loved her, and he loved his daughter. How could she be angry with him for being strong for her? They couldn't both fall to pieces, and Bella had to admit that she was holding on to her sanity by the slimmest of threads.

Downstairs, three strange vampires stood in the living room next to Carlisle and Jasper.

No, one vampire and two hybrids.

"Nahuel," Bella rasped. "What are you doing here?"

_**A/N:**_ This was a hard chapter to write; there was so much that I wanted to include, and I lost three hours of edits last night. Argh! Finally, I broke the chapter in half because I didn't want to overwhelm you. So hopefully, you'll be getting another update within the next day. And I still don't have a beta, so please forgive any grammar, spelling, or other errors. I try to edit very thoroughly, but eventually I begin to see what I want to see.

Anyway, tons of research went into this chapter. Some of it appears, some of it does not appear but informs the way I structured the chapter; some of it was just good for me to know for the future. I probably still did something wrong.

**Thank you for Reading! Please Review! Reviews are Love! Reviews say "Wow. I like where you're heading. Keep going."**


	4. Hummingbird

_**Nightfall: A Continuing Story in the Twilight Saga**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own. I do not profit. I do not do much, actually.**_

**A/N:** Yeah, Bella's gone a bit nuts. But who wouldn't in this situation? Seriously, y'all, real talk: the death of a child is no joke. Couples break up and divorce over it all the time. And perfect love doesn't exist—even with vampires. People get mad, get crabby, get weird, get funky. Relationships are hard.

And please forgive any errors. I'm still editing by myself for the time being. I try really hard to get all of the typos and grammar stuff fixed.

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR: Hummingbird**

Bella had last seen Nahuel, the South American hybrid almost two months ago, after the Volturi had left Forks, and returned to Volterra. Nahuel had stayed a day long than their other vampire friends, not saying much, but seeming to just enjoyed watching how their family interacted with each other. It was because of Nahuel's testimony—along with Alice's vision of the Volturi decimation—that the Volturi decided to allow Renesmee to live, and to leave the Cullen's in peace.

"I came because Jasper came for me and told me about your daughter," Nahuel responded softly.

_Jasper went to get him? Why?_ Bella hadn't even known Jasper wasn't in Forks.

"You came all this way to give your condolences?" Bella asked, her voice tight and squeaky from crying, screaming, and then hours of silence.

"No," Nahuel replied. "Condolences were not my intention."

Carlisle spoke quickly. "We sent for Nahuel because we thought he might have some…insight…into what happened to Resnemee."

"What does it matter now?" Bella said harshly, her face contorted. Esme gave Bella a narrow glance, her brows lifted in disapproval.

"I'm sorry," Bella amended. "I just don't see why it matters now."

"Please," Nahuel spoke, "you know my Aunt, Huilen." He indicated the vampire woman to his left. She was short with skin the color of burnt umber. Her dark hair fell to her waist in braids. She stood silently, jerking a nod to Bella. She had accompanied her nephew to Forks the first time. She'd been bitten and turned by the infant Nahuel after he'd ripped his way out of his mother's womb.

"This is my youngest sister by my father, Joham," Nahuel continued, putting a hand on the elbow of the small girl to his right. "She is Jennifer. She was visiting me, in an attempt to get me to join my father, when Jasper came for me. I asked her to come with us to see you."

Bella stared at the first female hybrid she'd seen other than her own daughter. Jennifer, Nahuel's sister, was blond, almost Nordic-looking. She was as fair-skinned as Nahuel was brown. She was very petite, smaller than Alice, and appeared to be 15 or 16 years old, and was exceptionally beautiful, even for a vampire, or vampire hybrid. She reminded Bella of Jane, the vicious little Volturi guard, except that she had Rosalie's exceptional blonde beauty and Esme's kind loveliness.

Jasper spoke for the first time, his Texas twang seeming particularly sharp after listening to Nahuel speak in his softly South American-accented English. "Nah-Well," Jasper drawled, "and Jennifer have quiet an interesting story to tell you, Bella." Bella felt waves of calm wash over her—Jasper's gift—and the stabbing pain in her chest eased somewhat.

"We had another sister, long ago," Nahuel began," before science and technology had advanced as far as it has today. When she was only a small child, her heart and breathing stopped and she was lost. Joham attempted to save her, but was unable."

Bella started to speak, but Edward squeezed her hand, and with a slight shake of his head, let her know not to interrupt. "I can't believe it," he whispered.

"Jennifer was born only 17 years ago. When she was a baby," Nahuel continued, "also less than one year of age, like your Renesmee, like our other sister, her heart and breathing stopped. Joham tried traditional human methods to restart her heart and lungs, but was afraid of crushing her chest. After a while, nearly three days, Joham realized that he could use a laser to open her chest and inject adrenaline into her heart. He did this, and her heart began to pump again, and my father sealed the wounds with his venom."

Bella began to gasp for air. She was at once frightened and excited. _What was Nahuel saying?_

Jennifer, the young hybrid spoke, her musical voice as lovely as a bird. "My father told me that my heart was as soft as a human heart. And…" She paused. "Our sister who didn't live…Joham dissected her to analyze her physiology. Inside our bodies, we hybrids are as fragile as humans. Our outer skin and bones are hard as stone, protecting our organs. But once you get past our skin, we can be operated on. We can even have children."

"What is the extent of your natural healing ability on living tissue that dies?" Carlisle asked.

Bella looked at Edward, confused. What did Carlisle mean? "Reanimation," Edward whispered.

"It's impressive, but it only goes so far. If you decide to do this to your little girl, there is no absolute guarantee that it will work. And we hybrids can live without air for quite some time, but eventually our brains need it. If you are going to attempt to save your child, you should act quickly."

Rosalie spoke for the first time, leaving the shelter of Emmett's arms. "What are we waiting for? Bella?"

Bella nodded, feeling lightheaded with hope. "Yes," she gasped, "Carlisle! Edward! Please!"

Edward spoke, urgency filling his voice. "Where can we get a laser?"

The entire family blurred into action. The dining room was prepped as an operating room, and the entire house was disinfected from top to bottom. Reserves of human blood where brought in and stored. Necessary medical equipment was located.

It was easy to get a laser. Bella marveled, not for the first time, at what access to millions of dollars, and having the speed and strength of a vampire could accomplish. Jasper, Edward, and Carlisle had immediately left the house after Nahuel's story in search of a medical laser, and had already notified Bella that they would be returning within the hour.

Bella sat beside Renesmee on Edward's old bed, whispering to her. "You'll come back to me, I know." Edward had asked Bella if she wanted to take Renesmee to their cottage, but Bella refused. When she finally went back to her cottage, she wanted to take her living, breathing child with her. If Nessie didn't wake, well, she'd deal with that when the time came.

While she waited, Rosalie had come in to ask Bella to try to talk to Jacob.

"He's phasing in and out of wolf form, sobbing and howling uncontrollably," Rosalie said, without any of the usual venom she used when speaking to or about Jacob.

It was difficult to tear herself away from Renesmee, and an unpredictable surge of pure jealous rage swelled inside Bella when Rosalie took her place on the bed, and held Renesmee's lifeless hand in hers, kissing it softly. But she turned and left the room, and ran directly into Jasper, who looked at her, puzzled. He poked his head into the bedroom, seeing Rosalie sitting on the bed. He looked back at Bella quizzically. "Bella, darling, are you…" He sighed. "If you want to talk about what you're feeling," Jasper started over, "I'm here."

"Thanks, Jasper. But not right now." Bella had edged past him, and gone in search of Jacob. She

found him perched in a tree, sobbing uncontrollably. He barely resembled the Jacob she knew. His skin had an unhealthy pallor; he was almost grey. His eyes were blood shot, and dark circles beneath his eyes looked like bruises. His face was hollow, gaunt, as if he'd lost 20 pounds in the last two days.

"What are you doing, Jacob?" Bella called up to him. "Why are you up there?"

His sobs went on for a while, until between breaths, he mumbled, "Harder to shift up here...when I shift, more dangerous…" Then the sobbing continued.

Bella ached inside. She'd been so devastated that she'd left her best friend to suffer alone. An ungrateful, unwelcome thought filled her head.

_At least I can see that Jacob is suffering like I am. Edward doesn't even…_

Bella shook the dark thought away. Edward was, at this moment, doing everything to get his daughter back.

"Jacob, please listen," Bella called loudly to be her over his cries. Bella told Jacob about Nahuel and Jennifer, and the operation that Carlisle was going to do. But he didn't believe her when she told him that Renesmee would come back. "She's not there anymore, Bella. I can't feel her."

Leaping lightly unto the branch where Jacob was sitting, she said, "Jacob, I know she's going to be okay. I know it!"

It broke Bella's heart to look at him. Jacob seemed almost…insubstantial. His eyes were unfocused, as if there was nothing in the world worth looking at again. She took his face her hands and tried to look into his eyes, to make him see her.

"When Nessie wakes up, you'll feel her again." She hugged him tightly for a moment, but his arms were slack.

Bella talked for a few minutes more, but Jacob couldn't be reasoned with, wouldn't be consoled. He cried continuously until he fell out of the tree onto the ground. Within seconds, he fell into an uneasy sleep right where he lay, twitching and moaning. Leah appeared from out of the brush in wolf form and stood watch over him, casting an angry wolfish eye at Bella.

Bella envied Jacob his tears and his unconsciousness. She even envied his lack of hope. If Nahuel's plan didn't work, she would be destroyed all over again.

Back in Edward's room, as she sat beside her daughter, she couldn't make herself not hope. "Please, please, please," Bella whispered. "Please come back to me, Nessie. I need you."

A knock interrupted her fervent pleas.

"Come in, Nahuel," Bella called. She would never be surprised by someone again, she thought. She could differentiate footsteps, breathing patterns, and even smells. A closed door was no longer a barrier.

The door opened slowly and Nahuel entered. He appeared nervous about entered the bedroom. He hesitated and then said, "Forgive me for disturbing you. I would like to speak with you, and sit vigil over your little one with you."

Bella smiled softly. This man had brought her hope.

"She is certainly beautiful," Nahuel said, smiling down at Renesmee, who seemed, for all the world, as though she only slept.

"Thank you for coming, Nahuel. You have saved my child."

"It remains yet to be, but I have great hope that she will awaken." Nahuel sank to the floor easily and sat cross-legged in front of Bella.

"Do you know why she got sick? Why the same thing happened to your sisters?" Bella asked.

"Again, I only know what my sister has told me, what Joham has told her. It is second-hand information, at best. I told your Carlisle Joham's theories. There are only a few hybrids—more than I told the Volturi there were—but still a small number. They were made by other vampires who found Joham's experiments interesting. It seems that girl hybrids outnumber the boys three to one. But for every two girl hybrids born, one will die of some heart defect. Joham likened the defect to Tay-Sachs disease. Because of the dense amniotic sac, it cannot be diagnosed before birth."

Bella knew about Tay-Sachs disease from research and from personal experience. Her grandmother Marie, Renee's mother was Jewish, and a carrier of the disease—a heredity genetic disease that attacked the nervous system. Luckily, Renee's father was not a carrier, and so Renee had no chance of having the disease, although she could have been a carrier.

"Also, like Tay-Sachs, the child can seem completely healthy until they are two or three years old. And like Tay-Sachs is it always fatal. At least it was fatal before lasers were invented. Before, there was nothing sharp enough or hard enough to pierce the skin and the sternum. Nothing delicate, at least."

Here Nahuel paused. He seemed to struggle with continuing, but seemed to make the decision to go on with his story.

"Our other sister—my father tried to open her chest with his bare hands, but he used too much strength. He ripped her body apart. The inner organs, as soft as a humans, were destroyed."

Bella grimaced, unable not to compare Nahuel's unknown baby sister to the child lying before them on the bed.

"Science has been a gift," Nahuel said. "There are now means to heal hybrids, and destroy vampires. There are lasers hot enough to cut through vampires as easily as paper."

"Do you hate vampires so much?" Bella asked, disturbed. "You seem to love your Aunt Huilen very much."

"I turned her into a monster. My father is a monster. Most vampires are. Only these Cullens I have met have any human decency within them. I have long wanted to find a way to destroy vampires. Now science gives us the means—burning lasers and caustic acids that can damage even the hard skin of a vampire."

"Lasers and acids were invented long ago. If you wanted to destroy vampires, why haven't you started?"

Bella didn't know what to think of this man. A few moments ago, she felt absurdly grateful to him. Now she eyed him warily.

Nahuel smiled darkly. "I have, Bella Cullen. I have killed many vampires. I am almost as fast, almost as strong. Most vampires do not know what to make of me, and I take them by surprise. But I am only one. I need an army to help me—an army of half-breeds, loyal to humanity."

He gazed down at Renesmee fondly.

Bella looked at him with horror. "Is that why you came? To save Renesmee so that she can, what? Join your army? Breed warriors for your army? Are you planning to kill my family and take her?" Bella crouched in a feral positive and growled. "I'll never let you take my daughter!"

Nahuel backed away slowly, hands up defensively, as if warding off a wild animal. "Bella Cullen, you wrong me. I would never attempt to harm you, or your family, or your daughter. Your daughter is a child and has many years before she is an adult. Even so, she is imprinted"—he said the word as if it tasted oddly in his mouth—"on a werewolf. When last I was here, I came to understand that they would be paired when she came of age."

Slowly he lowered his hands, as Bella came out of her crouch.

"Please Bella Cullen, forgive me if my words caused you pain or fear. I only hunt those vampires who have shown to be an utter menace to the world. I would never cause you pain. You…I think that…I think that my mother would have been like you."

Bella felt ashamed.

"Nahuel, I..I'm sorry. I can't seem to get my emotions under control. One minute, I'm so sad that I could die; the next, I want to fight the whole world."

"It is understandable. But your daughter will live."

Bella smiled, then turned toward the window. She could hear a van was approaching the house, even though it was hidden by the trees.

"They are back!" Bella shouted, and ran at full speed down the stairs and out of the house.

Within moments, the laser and accompanying equipment was in the house and ready to go. Edward gently carried his daughter's lifeless body down the stairs and into the dining room, where Bella's hospital bed had been while she was pregnant with Renesmee.

Carlisle had set up an operating table and Edward and Rosalie sterilized the room. Esme ushered everyone into the living room to wait.

The anxiety was palpable in the room. Bella felt a coolness spreading over her like a breeze, and realized that Jasper was using his gift to bring calm to everyone. Emmett and Rosalie sat on the white leather coach, Rosalie in the circle of Emmett's arms. Jasper sat in an arm chair with Alice on his lap. Esme sat at the piano bench occasionally peering into the dining room. Jennifer sat cross-legged on the floor, while Nahuel and Huilen stood stiffly near the windows. Bella sat in the arm chair opposite Jasper and Alice, with Jacob leaning back against her knees. She'd had to force him to come into the house. Now she rubbed his head, and whispered to him that everything was going to be okay.

When the smell of blood hit her nose, Bella knew that Carlisle had opened Renesmee's chest. All the vampires could smell the blood, but because it was a mix of human and vampire blood, none desired it.

It seemed to Bella that everyone was holding their collective breaths, though no one in the room, except Jacob, needed to breath. Minutes passed.

Then the room heard Carlisle whisper, "I've injected the adrenaline."

Bella's vampire ears strained to hear it, the little hummingbird sound that she knew was Renesmee's heartbeat, that she'd come to know, to listen to at night when her girl was sleeping peacefully. It was a like balm to soothe her soul, that heartbeat. She strained to hear it now. _Please beat_, she whispered. _Come on, little hummingbird. Please.  
_

Nothing.

Jacob moaned then, and Rosalie let out a little cry, and turned to throw her arms tightly around Emmett, burying her face into his chest.

Nothing.

Bella felt empty. In her mind's eye she could see the years and years of her future, a black hole without her darling daughter beside her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, thinking of Renee. How could she have thought about letting Renee think she was dead. She would never wish on anyone this pain, this deep pain, so deep that it felt as if an evil blackness had swallowed her whole, pressing out of her every breath, every feeling, every emotion.

A sound, a small screech, like squirting liquid.

"Another dose, Carlisle?" Edward's whisper floated to Bella's ears.

"One more," Carlisle affirmed, voice as soft as Edward's. "Just one more try."

Silence.

Bella felt the hot tears from Jacob's eyes soak into her pants leg. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, except figuring out how she could die. She wished Jane, Alec, and Demitri were here now. They'd kill her without a second thought. A morbid thought nearly made her laugh. If Jane knew how destroyed Bella was inside, she wouldn't kill her. Vindictive Jane would allow Bella to live with her devastation, laughing at Bella's pain.

_Flutter._

Rosalie jerked away from Emmett, dry eyes swollen. "What's that?"

_Flutter._

_Flutter Flutter._

Jacob lifted his head and looked confusedly around the room. All the adults sat straighter, listening.

A slow pattering began—a hummingbird!—then a large gasp of air!

"Mommy!" A small voice wailed, and Bella flew into the next room.

"Wait," Carlisle spoke firmly. "I have to close her chest."

Bella stood anxiously near the door as she watch Carlisle held a small square piece of flesh over a gaping hole in Renesmee's chest. Using swabs, he coated the sides with a thick, clear viscous substance—vampire venom—and placed the flesh directly into the hole, where it fit as neatly as a puzzle piece. Using the swabs, he coated the incision lines thoroughly. Within seconds, Bella could see the incision lines fade to nearly invisible pale pink scars.

"Mommy!" Renesmee called again.

"Bella, you can come to her, but she must lay flat until I am certain her chest has completely healed," Carlisle spoke.

Nodding furiously, Bella reached for Renesnmee and placed an arm gently under Renesmee's head, and another gently across her torso. Bella kissed Renesmee's face over and over again. "I'm here, baby," she whispered. "Mommy's right here. Lay still, baby. Mommy is right here."

Bella had never regretted being a vampire until she couldn't cry when she wanted to. Earlier, when her daughter was dead; now that her precious child was alive and in her arms.

"Mommy," Renesmee said, "What happened?"

"You went somewhere for a little while, but now you are back," Bella said, stroking Renesmee's face. Bella laughed and held her tight. She met Edward's eyes and smiled with love and gratitude. Beyond Edward, she could see the entire family gathered, smiling in happiness and relief. "She's back," Bella told them all. "Renesmee's back."

"She's gone," a voice cried from further in the room. "She's gone."

The family parted to see Jacob, standing, staring at Renesmee with horrified eyes. He looked as if he was in a trance.

"Jacob, Resnemee's right here. Can't you see her. She's alive," Bella said.

"No, she's gone, Bella," Jacob said, shaking his head. "She's gone!"

"Jacob!" Bella was getting upset, and a little frightened. "She's right here." She looked to Edward for help.

Edward looked frozen, as horrified as Jacob.

"Bella," Edward spoke, "The imprint. It's gone. It's been broken."

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Trying to kill off a nearly immortal, nearly invincible creature—while trying to stay true to the original material—is hard! If you find something, or have questions, let me know

**Thank you for Reading! Please Review! Reviews are Love! Reviews say "I'm enjoying this."**


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